Now police set up special border patrols to stop Welsh ‘escaping’ into England
POLICE yesterday revealed extraordinary plans to patrol the border between England and Wales to stop families crossing it for a half-term holiday.
Officers will be out over the weekend in an attempt to deter motorists defying Covid rules.
They will be preventing caravans sneaking into England to beat the two-week lockdown in Wales and will try to deter Welsh motorists from making ‘nonessential’ journeys.
Gloucestershire Police announced an operation covering routes from Wales into the Forest of Dean, where officers will stop motorists travelling into England to find out what they are doing.
Drivers will be encouraged to turn around and head back to Wales if officers ‘are not satisfied with their explanation’, a spokesman said. If they refuse they could be fined. The move comes after Wales entered a ‘firebreak’ lockdown at pm yesterday preventing residents crossing into England without a ‘reasonable’ excuse.
Under the measures, announced by First Minister Mark Drakeford, pictured, earlier this week, people will be asked to stay at home and to leave only for a limited number of reasons, including exercise, buying essential supplies, or to seek or provide care. It will last for 17 days. Motorists from the rest of the UK could also face questioning by police if they drive into Wales and flout its lockdown rules.
A spokesman for Gloucestershire Constabulary said: ‘While we cannot issue fines to those travelling from Wales into Gloucestershire we can inform the host force of those we stop about what has happened so they can take action.’ He stressed: ‘It isn’t checkpoints.’ North Wales Police also announced extra patrols and ‘increased visibility’ across the force area over the weekend.
Both forces said they will not deploy officers to routinely patrol the border and not all vehicles crossing it will be stopped. But motorists should expect to see a heightened police presence.
On behalf of the four Welsh police forces, Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Nigel Harrison, of North Wales Police, said: ‘People should not be travelling between the areas facing local restrictions without defined reasonable excuses. This will include those that travel from other parts of the UK with high transmission rates.’
Gwent Police, which covers south-east Wales, also pledged to mount extra patrols across the force area. But a spokesman said the focus will be on ‘engaging with the community’ rather than specifically patrolling the border.